In October 2018 eleven women met in a beautiful little retreat centre in the Western Algarve for seven days of….

… well, as much as I try, I cannot put it in a nut shell. The week was unique , very special and truly transformational. Each woman left with a sense of having uncovered something deep inside her, something that will never be pushed down again.

There was such wonderful synergy created through the raw food, Kundalini Yoga and the Six Prayers of Raw Love Awakening, which we worked with every day. Friendships for life were created, commitments made and lives changed.

The Natural Retreat where we so comfortably stayed for the 7 nights greeted us with love on our arrival and then continued to resonate the love we brought to it daily. The surrounding, gentle countryside of the Wester Algarve, despite the mixed weather, further added to the deep and transformational experience every single woman experienced at this retreat.

This is my latest and most favourite Kimchi recipe. I love how the Beetroot gives is sweetness and the lemon rind tanginess.

1 small Savoy Cabbage

1/2 tbsp sea or himalayan salt

3 carrots

2 small beetroot

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp chopped lemon rind

1 tbsp dulce flakes (or other seaweed sprinkle) - optional

1 tbsp chilli flakes

2 tbsp unpasteurised white or yellow miso

Remove a few of the outer leaves of the Savoy cabbage and put aside.

Slice the rest roughly. You want bigger chunks than for sauerkraut. Place the chopped cabbage into a large bowl, add the salt. Massage for a bit until it gets juicy, then leave to stand while you prepare the other vegetables.

Cut the carrots and beetroot and into batons. Add the ginger, lemon rind, chilli flakes, seaweed sprinkles and miso and massage into the vegetables.

Now mix the vegetable mix with the cabbage. Pack tightly into the Onggi pressing down firmly. Top with clean cabbage leaves and weigh down with a...

This is a super easy and fast dish to make. You do need a spiraliser. If you don't have one, you can also use a vegetable peeler and create tagliatelle style noodles but then it's definitely no longer a 'fast' dish.

Serves 1-2 people, depending on the size of your vegetables:

Start by spiralising:

1 carrot

1 sweet potato*

1/2 courgette/zucchini

*orange flesh sweet potatoes, like you get in the UK are best for this. If you live in a different country and your sweet potatoes are very tough and fibrous, then you could use Jicama, Parsnip, Kohlrabi or Celeriac instead.

Once in a while we all need to take ourselves away from our daily life. Holiday’s are great, but they very rarely support our health in the way we may want to. The food isn’t right, and you eat too much of it. You easily slip into drinking more alcohol and eating more ice cream than you know is good for you. You are on holiday after all and you want to make the most of it. Perhaps you will also lie a bit too long in the sun, causing you sun burn and pre-mature ageing of the skin. There is also so much to see and do when going to new places that the days are often filled with tiring activities, leaving you excited but exhausted at the end of the day. When you get home, you immediately slip back into your old habits and life patterns… until the next holiday.

It’s fun and they do say that a change is as good as a break, but once in a while you’ll need something else. A complete removal from what you normally do.

Do you meditate regularly? Most people I meet are aware of the benefits gained through meditation, yet when asked how often they meditate, they often admit that they don’t do it as much as they would like. Many of my clients tell me that they find it hard to still the mind, that they just get caught up in the labyrinth of their thoughts. Perhaps the biggest hurdle for meditation is that we think of it as kind of a big deal. We think it’s got to be done in a certain way, in a specific environment, that we need time and quiet for it and that we have to sit for a long time.

My experience shows that actually a much better approach is to think of meditation as something we do all the time. Any activity or non-activity, such as waiting, can be a form of meditation. All we have to do is give whatever we are doing our full attention, be aware of our breath and let our thoughts go.

Letting our thoughts go is different from not thinking. Instead of thinking that we’ve...

Do you know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you feel like you don’t want to do anything…

We all search for something. We want to be happy and we want to find a way where we can wake up in the morning and jump out of bed with joy for what the day may bring. We want to have a purpose, or as Joseph Campbell called it ‘Follow Your Bliss’.

I recently came across a book called Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. Ikigai is a Japanese word that roughly translates into ‘a reason to live’. Actually I had come across the word before when I learned about Blue Zones during my health coach training. Blue Zones are places in the world where people live healthily and happily to a ripe old age. One Blue Zone is found on the Japanese island of Okinawa, which apparently has the highest number of centenarians in the world. They live a pretty healthy lifestyle and they certainly practice Ikigai there. The Ikigai of the Okinawa...

Sitting in the half shade at the top of the Chalice Well Gardens in Glastonbury with a piece of far too sweet raw chocolate cake and an almond latte, I contemplate the 3-day retreat we just completed.

When my husband Neil and I bought our house in 1999, I had a vision of sharing the space one day with others. I think at the time I thought that we could create a beautiful garden where then there was not much more that bramble, bracken, boundary oaks and a small bit of woodland filled with hazel and willow. Perhaps one day the garden would be pretty enough to do open garden days.

And although we’ve been running quite a few one day retreats here in the last few years, this recent Kundalini Yoga and Raw Food Retreat over 3 days was the first one we ran at full capacity. All bedrooms were occupied, and people camped in tents and camper van in the garden. To see our living room transformed into a yoga studio which can accommodate 15 people was inspiring. So much so, that we feel...

The Holiday Season has started and I’m aware that my last newsletter was over a month ago. ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ goes the saying. Actually, the more accurate statement is: ‘Time doesn’t matter when you’re having fun’.

I’ve had a lot of fun in 2017. That is not to say it was not a bumpy ride. Developing new work is never easy, as I find myself between the comfort of the old and the uncertainty of the new. But it was all worth it and I’m happy to say I have some wonderful experiences in store for you.

But let’s get back to the holiday season and the end of the year for a moment. I’ve heard several people say to me that they will be ‘glad to the see the back of 2017. There may be good reasons – perhaps challenges around health, finances or relationships – reasons that want us to put the past behind us and look hopingly towards the future. But I would like you to examine...

Water Kefir is a probiotic drink. It's created by using water kefir grains, which are a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast that feed on sugar water, juice or coconut water.

I love Water Kefir. I usually do a second ferment to make a beautifully, slightly sparkly drink which is good for my gut, general health and tastes delicious.

In this video I show you, how I make Water Kefir. There are probably any number of variations of how to make it and how to look after your kefir grains, and over time you will find your own tried and tested process.

Making Water Kefir

September 21, 2017|Gabriela Lerner

Water Kefir is a probiotic drink. It's created by using water kefir grains, which are a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast that feed on sugar water, juice or coconut water.

I love Water Kefir. I usually do a second ferment to make a beautifully, slightly sparkly drink which is good for my gut, general health...